US-based lawyer sues Kenyan blogger for defamation

By B M J MURIITHI

In Summary

She accuses the owner of the blog named Kenyapoa of writing a “malicious story which has caused me emotional distress”.

The blogger, she says, erroneously characterised her as having been suspended indefinitely from practicing law in the US for misconduct.

Under Maryland law, if the court grants her plea, a subpoena will force the identity of the blogger to be revealed.

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A Kenyan lawyer based in the US has sued a Kenyan blogger for defamation and failing to pull down an offending article published last year.

In a suit filed at the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Maryland, Ms Regina Njogu accuses the owner of the blog named Kenyapoa of writing a “malicious story which has caused me emotional distress”.

In the testimony filed at the court registry and seen by Nation on Thursday, Ms Njogu, who is a partner at RNW law firm, says that the said blogger wrote an article which erroneously characterised her as having been suspended indefinitely from practicing law in the US for misconduct.

DEFAMATORY ARTICLES

She further states that the blogger often writes inflammatory and defamatory articles mostly against Kenyans residing in the US or abroad.

Ms Njogu, who is licensed to practice law in New York, says she filed the libel complaint against the unnamed plaintiff because even after requesting him or her to pull down the article, the defendant has failed or refused to do so.

She says due to privacy features on the website, it has been impossible to authenticate the real identity of the blogger.

REVEAL IDENTITY

Under Maryland law, if the court grants her plea, a subpoena will force the identity of the blogger to be revealed.